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Bush girl left alone while the district is at a dance is threatened by two murderous sailors, rescued by a bushranger, and manages to help him leave the sailors for the law without being captured himself.

Adaptations

'The plot is well laid. Richard Lavender and Kitty Anson (the hero and heroine) are passengers on board a sailing ship bound for Sydney harbor. The vessel is manned by a crew of roughs. Lavender protects the ship's boy (Billy) from the infuriated captain, and in a fight up aloft the latter falls to the deck mortally wounded. Lavender is told by the mate that he will hang for it when the ship gets to port, but on reaching the harbor he makes his escape, taking Billy with him, and they seek the solitude of the bush. Joined by a black-boy [sic], they search for gold. Kitty has taken up her home on a selection and, being born to the saddle, makes many tours of the bush. In one of them she comes across her friend working his mine, just about the time that he has discovered gold. In the meantime the mate of the ship, who has become the landlord of a country inn and employs a gang of bushrangers, ascertains the whereabouts of Lavender, and puts the police on his track. There is £500 reward offered for his capture. Kitty beats the mate in an exciting race over fences to take out a miner's right, and afterwards works the mine, assisted by Billy and the black boy. Lavender is hunted by the police, and numerous 'stick-ups' and the robbery of gold from the mail coach are credited to him. He is even accused of stealing the bones of the Chinaman's [sic] grandfather. In the end The Gentleman Bushranger recovers the stolen gold, unmasks the mate and his gang, and justifies his own actions in the eyes of the law.'

yThe Old Bulletin Reader : The Best Stories from The Bulletin 1881-1901Melbourne:Lansdowne,1973Z1612131973anthology short story AbstractComprises most of the stories originally published in 1901 in The Bulletin Story Book. edited by A.G. Stephens, together with his original preface and introduction but not including the biographical index.Melbourne:Lansdowne,1973

'From the editors of The Anthology of Colonial Australian Gothic Fiction comes this fascinating collection of disturbing mysteries and gruesome tales by authors such as Mary Fortune, James Skipp Borlase, Guy Boothby, Francis Adams, Ernest Favenc, 'Rolf Boldrewood' and Norman Lindsay, among many others.
In the bush and the tropics, the goldfields and the city streets, colonial Australia is a troubling, bewildering place and almost impossible to regulate—even for the most vigilant detective.
'Ex-convicts, bushrangers, ruthless gold prospectors, impostors, thieves and murderers flow through the stories that make up this collection, challenging the nascent forces of colonial law and order. The landscape itself seems to stimulate criminal activity, where identities change at will and people suddenly disappear without a trace.'The Anthology of Colonial Australian Crime Fiction is a remarkable anthology that taps into the fears and anxieties of colonial Australian life.' (Publication summary)